The overall goal of the program is to enhance the biomedical research and training capability of the University of Hawaii at Hilo. The first project will examine the relative importance of genetics, native Hawaiian cultural identity, physical fitness, nutrition and stress in the development of obesity in children of native Hawaiian ancestry. The second project will investigate the presence of pathogenic leptospira in taro and aquaculture ponds in Hawaii. Freshwater animals will be examined as potential reservoirs for leptospires. The third project will evaluate the dietary mineral requirements of ICR, Swiss Webster, and BALB/cAnNsim strains of laboratory mice. The elements copper, zinc and sodium will be examined because of their link both to the mammalian immune and reproductive systems, and to the development of hypertension. The fourth project will examine arsenic concentrations in sediments of Hilo Bay, in Hawaii, and study the biomagnification of arsenic in fish and invertebrates caught and consumed from this bay. The fifth project will examine, by fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, the role of cytoplasmic gradients of calcium in directing secretory vesicles to hyphal tips. The sixth project will use the laboratory rat as an animal model to investigate the effects of infantile undernutrition on learning. The subjects will be measured on several kinds of tests. An independent indicator of undernutrition effects will come from measure of brain myelin. The seventh project will isolate and characterize those factors from the bovine uterus that are involved in the hatching process and the mechanism by which the early preimplantation embryo sheds the zona pellucida.